People to People.

I’m sorry I haven’t written anything all week, but I’ve been at this People to People program, and you had to pay for the WiFi (not quite so lenient and sharing as the Friendliest Airport). And anyways, I was SO busy. We usually didn’t get back to our hotel room until 9 or 10, and then we had room checks and then showers and then journals (assigned) and getting ready and talking with our roommates and then about 2 pages of reading and by then it was midnight!

But I must say, this was probably one of the best weeks of my life. I had an absolutely amazing time. I can truthfully say that I don’t think there was a bad or mean or rude person there. And there were over 200 kids! I would do it again in a heartbeat if I had the chance. I just wish it was about a month longer… it’s so sad that I have to leave all my new friends! We spent so much time with each other every day, all week (6 am-10 pm, daily, for 5 days; you do the math), and now we will probably never see each other ever again. Ever.

I wish there were more people like them at my school. Everyone was friendly and accepting and chatty and willing to share and talk about things you were interested in if you felt left out. There were just so many examples of great people all week- people would move over if you didn’t have a seat, give you some change if you had no money to buy lunch, share their candy with you, hug frequently, laugh often, listen to other people’s music even if they hadn’t liked it before, visit a particular exhibit in the museum you were in if you were interested in it (*ehem* gemology), change the subject if you found it awkward (*ehem* religion), dance and sing a lot, encourage you and others, compliment each other often, make up nice nicknames, text you often, walk with you and talk with you, and just generally be nice. Always. You can always talk to these people- you don’t really have to worry about them judging you, to an extent; you don’t have to worry that a debate will turn into a fight or personal attack. (I debated whether or not a banana was really yellow or not for about an hour with one boy- I said it was, especially on a rudimentary level, and that it was important to be able to have a universal word for an object so that people can communicate, he said that really it was just refractions of light bouncing of the surface, and it wasn’t really yellow. Eventually, I won. I don’t know how that happened. I’m pretty good at debating, apparently.)

Not once during the week did I feel like anyone had a hidden agenda, or was laughing or talking about someone behind their back or anything. Not once. Everyone was amazing, and I will miss them all horribly.

I wish there were more people like them. We were all crying when we left each other last night, and everyone was hugging, multiple times. And I had to leave my roommates, who were probably the best roomies and some of the best people on the entire trip. One of my roommates (from Costa Rica, actually) called me “My Little Puffy Thing” and pretty much sat on me all trip (that sounds kind of gay, but it wasn’t, I swear). The other one was a gorgeous, amazing, quiet girl from Florida who my other roommate called “My Quiet Puffy Light,” for some reason. And I called the girl from Costa Rica “My Big Puffy Sue.”

Best roommates ever? You bet.

Best people ever? Yepp.

Best friends ever? Of course.

Best trip ever? Do you even have to ask? YES, and no, of course not, what do you think?